How Can I Help?

There are many ways you can help Bodhinatha's work

Many have asked how they can support the monks. If you have a clear idea of what you want to support then you can click here to go directly to our secure donation form now and choose to feed the monks, help with our garden or enter your intention for your gift if you have something specific in mind. If you want more detail on various options, then read below.

If you want to give a donation directly to Bodhinatha for him to use at his discretion or donate to the temple, see below. You gift will encourage the many projects Gurudeva has set in motion and which Bodhinatha is carrying forward. Or to simply do something for the monks in appreciation of their work. This page is a response to all the good souls who wish to help. We know each of you is inspired by different things, so we will work to keep a broad spectrum of the needs (or wants) on this page, from high-tech stuff to warm socks for the monks, from small items to serious improvements that we could not otherwise afford to implement. Please feel free to sponsor part of a project, even if you feel you cannot sponsor the whole thing. Every dollar counts!

If you are interested in sponsoring a project or need that is not listed below, please send an e-mail to sadasivanatha@hindu.org.

Help Build the Iraivan Temple

Summary: This is our most important project: fulfillment of Gurudeva's grand vision of the Iraivan temple being built on the island of Kauai. Made entirely by hand, not using a single machine, from stone in India and shipped to Hawaii. This will be an historic gift to the future generations of Hindus around the world. Don't miss the opportunity to participate today! Click to help build one the most remarkable temples in the world.

Contribute to the "Thank You Bodhinatha" Fund

Summary: If you have been inspired by Bodhinatha's life work, grateful for his influence in your life, appreciative of the gifts that he has given us all, you may honor your sentiment with a donation to the Thank You Bodhinatha Fund. This fund is used for promoting Bodhinatha's teachings around the world and the travel of Bodhinatha to spread the great truths of Hindu dharma. The fund is maintained as a permanent trust within the Hindu Heritage Endowment so your donation will grow and build through the years. Click to go to the HHE secure donation page.

Help Build Meditation Huts on San Marga

Summary:
Monks and pilgrims alike are invited to wander the sacred grounds that surround Iraivan Temple and to take time to sit down and go within, but the mosquitoes and rain can make prolonged meditation almost impossible.
To solve this problem, one of the monks worked for almost a year in his spare time to make a small prototype meditation hut out of old growth redwood recycled from an old water tower. The hut now it rests in a secluded spot on the Path of the Saivite Saints.
Bodhinatha would like to see three more meditation huts in other secluded spots on San Marga and we would like to use the gentle skills of master craftsman Jeff Schott to make them for us. The cost of each hut, including his time, is estimated at $6,000 each.

Feed the Monks

Summary:We are often asked by devotees if they can feed the monks. The answer is yes. This is an ancient and traditional form of giving known in Sanskrit as anna dana, feeding the sadhus. It is common for devotees to choose a day to honor a family member or celebrate some sacred or important event in their life.

The challenge is that we are in the middle of the Pacific, and you may be living in London, Chennai or Brazil.

The preferred way that devotees accomplish this is to make a cash donation to the monastery. The donation will be used to order a restaurant take out meal, to shop for some fancier than normal items from the supermarket to add to our normal lunch and dinner menus or, for donations with no day specified, help with the expense of our normal daily meals.

If you have indicated a specific day for the meal, your sponsored meal will take place as close to that day as fits into the monastery activity and cooking schedules. When making arrangements with the monastery, it is helpful to say, "Please use this donation to sponsor a meal for all the monks."

Kauai’s Hindu Monastery Afforestation Project

Summary: The heat is on. Global warming has speeded up, yet debates continue about the best way to slow the increase of carbon dioxide that is trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. Carbon needs to be pulled out of the atmosphere and put into long-term storage elsewhere. This process is called carbon sequestration, and high-technology ways to accomplish it are being explored worldwide. However, we don’t have to wait for high tech sequestration. We can increase carbon sequestration now by working with some experts.

They’re called trees, and they have almost 350 million years’ experience in sequestering carbon. Trees, like other green plants, use photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into sugar, cellulose and other carbon-containing carbohydrates that they use for food and growth. Trees are unique in their ability to lock up large amounts of carbon in their wood, and continue to add carbon as they grow. (Source: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation)

Kauai’s Hindu Monastery has undertaken its own medium scale afforestation program. We have a long-term lease on 312 acres of abandoned sugar cane land across the river from the monastery. Ninety acres is currently dedicated to the planting of hardwoods—primarily mahogany and koa. As of the end of 2016, forty-five acres have been planted and forty-five more acres are scheduled to be planted in 2017 and 2018. There are approximately 310 hardwood trees per acre. “The carbon footprints of 18 average Americans can be neutralized by one acre of hardwood trees.” (Arbor Environmental Alliance)

Cost: If you would like to participate in the monastery’s afforestation project, the donation to sponsor one acre of hardwood planting is $2,500. The punyam is free.